01 February 2007

Stella McCartney Care ad challenges the standard definitions of perfection. And it does so beautifully.

Generally speaking, I don't like cosmetic advertising. It's often misleading (e.g. artificial lash-wearing women selling mascara) and it typically conveys an artificial world peopled by men and women of unattainable beauty.

In most ads for cosmetics, every perceived imperfection is photoshopped. In the unforgiving eyes of most advertising creatives, no professional model's face is clear enough, no surface is clean enough, no flower is perfect enough to escape photoshopping.

And that is why this ad from Stella McCartney Care should be celebrated and revered by anyone who feels advertising contributes to the insecurities and unrealistic expectations of all of us.

From the looks of it, there's been very little photoshopping done to the two photos in this ad.

The product shot has the kind of shadows and reflections of light that are not typically not tolerated by professional photo retouchers.

The other photo features plain old weedy grass and bald patches of dirt. The model appears to be wearing very little makeup. And while it would be naive to think that a hairdresser hadn't worked on the model's hair, the style does provide an accurate impression of unstyled hair.

The effect? An ad that clearly communicates that this luxury cosmetic line is natural, organic and devoid of anything artificial.

More subtly, the ad also illustrates that perfection is not a necessary component of beauty.